Transportation Task Force Preliminary Report

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Transportation Task ForcePreliminary Report

• April 9, 2008

Task Force Officers Chairperson Vicki Bell Vice
Chairperson Keith Jackson Secretary Theresa
Millay
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Transportation Task Force

• Purpose To analyze the OCPS Transportation
  Department to see if there are any additional
  recommended cost savings. The committee will
  make recommendations to the School Board.
  Pursuant to the Florida Constitution and Florida
  law, the School Board will make the final
  decisions regarding any recommendations.
• This purpose includes
• Recommending the most ideal start times for
  elementary, middle and high school students by
  working and reworking models for the school
  transportation system. Ideas would be generated
  and researched by the TTF with the cooperation of
  the Transportation Department.
• Review of current transportation schedules to
  determine if there are any recommended changes
  for efficiencies.
• Review of transportation staffing levels to
  determine if there are any recommended changes
  for efficiencies.
• Review of transportation purchasing practices to
  determine if there are any recommended changes
  for efficiencies.
• Review of transportation maintenance practices
  including but not limited to location of bus
  compounds to determine if there are any
  recommended changes for efficiencies.

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Transportation Task Force

• Timeline for assignment Three months (February
  4 May 1) first report due by March 31st
  regarding any efficiencies for the coming school
  year that would impact the number of drivers
  needed.
• Membership
• Each board member will appoint two to three
  volunteers whom they feel would be most helpful
  on such a committee. The task force will be
  diverse.
• Meeting Logistics
• To start the task force will meet weekly at a
  location, time and day of the week agreed upon by
  the committee.
• First meeting will be an organizational meeting
  on Wednesday February 4, 630 800 p.m. at the
  ELC, Conference Room A. The group will get
  acquainted, appoint a co-chairman, and appoint a
  secretary to take minutes.
• The task force will organize tours of the Hanging
  Moss facility and other bus depot centers to
  better understand current operations.
• Subcommittees from this group may be set up to
  work on different areas of the county and
  different aspects of the transportation service.

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Transportation Task Force

• Work Product
• A report will be completed recommending the
  greatest cost saving measures for our
  transportation system and the best delivery
  schedule. This report will be presented to the
  school board within four months. The first
  presentation and recommendation will be given on
  March 31st concerning the schedule and the number
  of bus drivers needed.
• Should the committee make any significant
  schedule or delivery change recommendation(s),
  the School Board will require public engagement
  and analysis during the 2009-2010 school year
  prior to its consideration of the
  recommendation(s).
• The committees work shall be subject to the
  Government in the Sunshine and Florida Public
  Records laws. Should the committee have
  recommendations regarding this authorizing
  document, then the committee should provide said
  recommendations via the committees chairperson
  to the School Board for its consideration.
• The committee will conclude its work with a final
  report no later than May 1, 2009 and will be
  dissolved effective May 2, 2009.
• Staff Liaisons
• Arby Creech, Transportation Director
• Roland Moore, ICTS Sr Executive Director

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Transportation Task Force

• Members
• District 1 Joie Cadle District 3 Rick
  Roach
• Larry Kahn Jon Christensen
• Dawn Lincoln Rick Dembrowski
• Kit Pepper Robert Prater
• District 2 Daryl Flynn District 4 Vicki
  Bell
• Linda Harrell-Biggar Greg Bagby
• Allen Murphy Matt Falconer
• Evelyn Rivera Theresa Millay

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Transportation Task Force

• Members
• District 5 Kathleen Gordon District 6 Nancy
  Robinson
• Lecia Knighton John Freeman
• Wanda Payton Susan Gratch
• Sheldon Watson Jeff Hardebeck
• District 7 Christine Moore Administrative
  Support
• Thomas Allen Arby Creach - Transportation
• Phil Burguire Roland Moore - IT
• Keith Jackson

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Transportation Task Force
Recommendation 1 (3-16-09)

• Background
• OCPS must comply with state and federal mandates
  regarding transportation of students with special
  needs or circumstances. Examples include
  students with special health and physical needs,
  students with behavior or emotional problems, and
  even students who are homeless, just to mention a
  few. This results in a large percentage of the
  OCPS transportation budget being used for small
  percentage of students, due to the extra costs
  involved. While it appears that the decisions
  regarding the welfare and well-being of the
  student are being handled professionally and
  correctly, there appears to be a need to add a
  layer of accountability and financial review for
  the decisions that are being made.

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Transportation Task Force
Recommendation 1

• OCPS create and appoint an ongoing citizen
  committee for the purposes of reviewing decisions
  regarding providing children with special
  transportation arrangements.
• The charter of the committee would be to deliver
  oversight and a heightened awareness of
  accountability, providing the district with
  feedback regarding adherence to policies and
  mandates. It is recommended that the appointed
  citizens have some professional experience
  (counseling, teaching, business, health care,
  legal, etc.) that they will contribute in their
  voluntary capacity as committee members for two
  year appointments. The cases should all be
  reviewed without divulging actual names of
  children involved. The cases selected for review
  would be based on the most expensive instances of
  additional transportation expense. The
  administrator in charge of the OCPS
  Transportation Department should also have the
  authority to refer specific cases for review.

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Transportation Task Force
Recommendation 1 (continued)

• OCPS assign a social worker, either full or
  part-time as needed, to the Transportation
  Department, for the purposes of working with
  school-based social workers, to ensure that
  special case transportation needs are being
  provided in the most efficient, safe and
  economical manner.
• The documentation should include an assessment of
  savings with supporting documentation, on a
  case-by-case basis, to ensure the cost of the
  social worker position is be covered.

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Transportation Task Force
Recommendation 2 (3-16-08)

• Background
• OCPS Transportation Department staff members have
  stated that the ability to hire a larger number
  of temporary employees as drivers would produce a
  savings. Drivers with annual contracts cost more
  and reduce the flexibility that Transportation
  management needs to handle uncertain financial
  times and fluctuating enrollments. The staff has
  stated one of the problems is that the labor pool
  is very small for people qualified and willing to
  work part-time as a bus driver.

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Transportation Task Force
Recommendation 2 (3-16-08)

• Recommendation
• Ask the Florida Legislature to EXCLUDE part-time
  earnings paid by public school systems from
  impacting someones unemployment benefits.
  Basically, it would allow people on unemployment
  to work PART TIME as a substitute, crossing
  guard, bus driver, etc. without the risk of
  losing their unemployment.

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Transportation Task Force
Recommendation 2 (3-16-08)

• Recommendation
• Benefits to schools It will expand the labor
  pool in these areas to include more qualified
  people. It will also enable more part-time
  (i.e., non-contract people) in the bus driver
  area at a time when the uncertainty of hiring
  needs make commitments to contract employees
  unemployment that there might be additional work
  available at the school districts, then if should
  provide a steady stream of applicants without the
  expense of advertising. There are 63,000 people
  in Orange County currently on unemployment, many
  of whom would bring valuable skills
  (technological skills, current CDL) to the
  positions of substitutes and bus drivers.
• Benefits to individuals A mini-stimulus
  package, enabling people to increase their
  earnings while waiting for other full-time
  employment to become available.
• Cost NOTHING
• Savings OCPS would save money by employing
  persons on a temporary basis. expensive. Also,
  if the unemployment offices will simply inform
  those people on

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Transportation Task Force
Recommendation 3 (3-16-08)

• Background
• OCPS Transportation staff members state that
  deadhead miles (buses driving solely to secure
  fuel rather than transport students) add an
  approximate 1.6 million dollar annual cost to
  the Transportation Department budget. These
  miles result from lack of strategically located
  fueling compounds. The cost of creating the
  stations can be covered by capital funds, as
  opposed to operating funds, which are more
  available at this time, possibly through federal
  stimulus money.

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Transportation Task Force
Recommendation 3 (3-16-08)

• Recommendation
• Finalize efforts to secure three fueling stations
  with bus parking West Orange, Apopka and East
  Orange (Columbia is currently underway). Request
  both the OCPS Superintendent and the School Board
  members make this a priority, in anticipation of
  having three strategically placed stations in
  operation for the start of the 2009-2010 school
  year. Options include self-contained fuel units
  that are placed on concrete pads, a
  public/private partnership with an existing fuel
  source. (Please reference Case Study entitled
  Business Case for Refueling at Remote Locations,
  OCPS Transportation Department)

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Transportation Task Force
Recommendation 4 (3-16-08)

• Background
• State tax on diesel fuel is currently 2.98 per
  gallon. OCPS uses approximately 2.7 million
  gallons of diesel fuel per year. By using
  non-taxed red diesel fuel, OCPS could save
  approximately 1 million dollars.
• Recommendation
• Request OCPS petition the Florida Legislature to
  exempt public school transportation from state
  sales tax on fuel. If passed, this will enable
  OCPS to use red diesel and save approximately
  .30 per gallon of fuel and approximately one
  million dollars annually.

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Transportation Task Force
Recommendation 10 (3-25-09)

• Background
• OCPS must comply with state and federal mandates
  regarding transportation of students with special
  needs or circumstances. In addition to that,
  there are a number of elective programs that the
  OCPS supports or provides, which are not state or
  federally mandated. It is recognized that these
  programs may be beneficial to the overall social
  welfare of the community however, given the
  budgetary constraints that the OCPS is facing, it
  may not be practical to continue to providing
  transportation services for optional programs.

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Transportation Task Force
Recommendation

• It is recommended that the OCPS eliminate
  transportation services for the following
  programs, unless or until other funding
  opportunities are available to the OCPS
• EXCEL Program (approximate annual savings of
  527,000)
• MSPA Program (approximate annual savings of
  321,000)
• School to Work Program (approximate annual
  savings of 435,000)
• Acceleration Academy Program (approximate annual
  savings of 219,000)
• Magnet Program (approximate annual savings of
  1,600,000). It is recognized that this
  elimination may already be in progress.
• Tech Center Shuttles (approximate annual savings
  of 405,000)
• Academic Shuttles (approximate annual savings of
  113,000)
• 9th Grade Center Shuttles (approximate annual
  savings of 32,000)
• Shorten Days (approximate annual savings of
  81,000)
• (It is noted that the approximate savings are
  based upon current expenditures which can vary
  year to year.)

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Transportation Task Force

• As part of this recommendation, it is further
  requested that the Transportation department
  and/or other OCPS staff review and identify
  potential alternatives for students affected by
  these transportation cuts, including but not
  limited to
• Identifying public transportation alternatives
  that may be available
• Identification of potential for web or on-line
  opportunities to eliminate the need for actual
  transport to access the program
• Initiate discussions and provide forum for
  individual users to coordinate among one another
  to share rides and/or usage of privately
  delivered transportation services.

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Transportation Task Force
Recommendation 10 (3-25-09)

• Background
• OCPS must comply with state and federal mandates
  regarding transportation of students with special
  needs or circumstances. Based upon data provided
  by the OCPS Transportation Department, the most
  expensive mandatory programs transportation
  services include the ESE and Alternative
  Education programs. Approximately 24 million
  annually is expended between these two programs,
  serving approximately 525 routes daily. That is
  a cost of over 45,000 per route per year. On
  the surface, it appears that a more economical
  alternative might be considered to serve these
  students.

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Transportation Task Force
Recommendation

• Appoint a task force to review and identify
  potential options to continue to meet the intent
  of the mandates at a more reasonable cost to the
  OCPS, including, but not limited to items such as
  the following
• Privatization of services and/or use of
  recognized and qualified providers
• May include bussing and/or support staff
  necessary on the bus
• Home schooling and/or review of other
  opportunities for education not requiring or
  reducing transportation services (on-line, home
  visits, partial at-home and partial at-school
  programs to reduce transportation needs in any
  given week, etc.)
• Request parents provide the support and/or
  necessary medically trained staff on their
  childs bus ride, in lieu of the OCPS providing.
• Identification of potential revisions to
  state/federal mandates to release some of the
  more difficult provisions of the bill or statue
  language (i.e., eliminate the need for the OCPS
  to provide medically trained staff on the bus
  with the student and make it the parents
  responsibility)
• Negotiated payment or credit system to individual
  families to obtain their own transportation
  (could get a lot for 45,000 per year).

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Transportation Task Force
Request 1 (3-25-09)

• Background
• In reviewing the 2007-08 budget document supplied
  by the OCPS Transportation department, and
  comparing this to the OCPS 2008-09 Transportation
  budget, there is a documented increase to the
  08-09 Transportation Department budget of
  2,059,479.00. While the budget reflects a
  reduction in driver wages of 1,268,059.00, is
  also reflects an increase of 2,059,479.00 in
  other areas. Please refer to attached
  spreadsheet for budget line items that reflect an
  increase.

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Transporatation Task Force
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Transportation Task Force
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Transportation Task Force
Request 1 (3-25-09)

• Background
• While the overall Transportation budget in
  2007-08 was 55, 550, 564.00, the 2008-09
  Transportation budget provided to this committee
  is 56, 241, 784.00, an increase of 1.2 percent.
  This number does not include an additional
  increase of 9,361,287.00 (see attached document
  entitled Total Operating Expenditures by
  Function). All total, these numbers would
  indicate an 18 percent increase over 2007-08
  budget.
• In fairness, approximately 8,000,000.00 was due
  to increased fuel allocations based on the price
  of fuel last summer. However, in a time when
  every department was charged by the OCPS School
  Board to reduce costs by 7 percent, the
  documented increases in the 2008-09
  Transportation budget without the fuel, in no way
  reflect an effort by the Transportation
  Department to reduce the budget.

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Transportation Task Force
Request 1 (3-25-09)

• Background
• In identifying the individual line items that
  were increased, see attached Transportation
  Budget Comparison and List of Questions. As a
  member of the OCPS Transportation Task Force, I
  sent this list of questions and supporting
  documentation to the OCPS Transportation
  Department. In response, I received no answers
  to explain the increase of 2,059, 479.00.
  Instead, I received a document reflecting where
  the Transportation Department is year-to-date and
  a statement stating where the department would be
  at the end of the year. The new documents that
  the Transportation Department provided reflect a
  projected savings of over 3,000,000.00.
• As a member of the TTF, I feel I have a
  responsibility to be provided and provide
  accurate information. To date, I have received
  no explanation for the increase in budget line
  items, even after providing these documents to
  the COO of OCPS. While a savings of
  3,000,000.00 would be admirable, providing the
  new information provided by the transportation
  department is accurate, it does not account for
  the increase of 2,059,479.00. The savings to
  OCPS accounting for the increase would reflect a
  savings of only 940,521.00.

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Transportation Task Force
Request 1 (3-25-09)

• Background
• In addition, the OCPS 2008-09 Budget Reduction
  Report dated November 11, 2008 supplied by the
  district to the OCPS School Board shows a budget
  reduction target of 3.8 million dollars or 7
  percent. (See attached page from that document.)
  The document shows a reduction in travel of
  75,000.00, when a year to year comparison of the
  budget reflects an increase in travel of
  56,722.00. The document shows a reduction in
  consultants of 50,000.00, when a year-to-year
  comparison of the budget reflects an increase in
  consultants of 75,000.00. The document shows a
  reduction in repair parts of 150,000.00, when a
  year-to-year comparison of the budget reflects an
  increase of 306,634.00. The same document also
  shows a reduction in FFE (Furniture, Fixtures
  and Equipment) of 100,000.00, the year-to-year
  comparison of the budget reflects an increase in
  FFE of 323,950.00.
• The simple concept I am documenting is that OCPS
  cannot provide documentation reflecting they
  inflated their 2008-09 budget by 2,059,000.00,
  then claim savings of 375,000.00 in these same
  areas. These four areas were increased by
  762,306.00.
• Please refer to the document entitled Total
  Operating Expenditures by Function. The overall
  OCPS budget increased from 2007-08 to 2008-09 by
  70,000,000.00, in a time when the stakeholders
  were told OCPS had to cut 70,000,000.00.

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Transportation Task Force
Recommendation

• It is the request of this task force that the
  OCPS Transportation Department and the OCPS
  Finance and Audit Department provide full and
  complete Financial Statements to include all
  budget review documents for the 2008-2009 budget
  and all supporting documentation for increases in
  budgetary items over 2007-2008, balance sheets
  and financial statements to be included.
• It is the request of the Transportation Task
  Force that in light of the above documented
  savings discrepancies, the OCPS School Board
  revisit all claimed savings deemed by the OCPS
  District in all departments to date.
• It is the request of the TTF that all this data
  be received by the committee no later than end of
  business day, Tuesday, April 14, 2009. Please
  have School Board Services make copies for each
  TTF member.

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Transportation Task Force

• Attached is a review of the budgets for 07-08 and
  08-09. The TTF needs answers to the following
  questions
• Why is Other Support Personnel increased by
  228,512.00. Who did you hire, how many, and for
  what positions? What benefit are these positions
  to the transportation dept?
• Why is Professional and Technical Services
  increased over 100? What is the justification
  for this. Where and on what are these dollars
  being spent?
• Why did In County Travel increase 100? What is
  the justification for this and to what are these
  dollars being spent?
• Why also did Out of County Travel also increase
  33? What is the justification for this?
• Repairs and Maintenance went up 73. What is
  causing you to budget such a large increase in
  one year? Justify the increase as last year you
  did not go over budget.
• Rentals went up 36 or 87,000 dollars. Please
  explain what Transportation is renting and why
  the big increase.
• Other Purchased Services went up 58 or 131,000
  dollars. Explain the increase in these
  expenditures.
• Diesel fuel was dropped 2. Explain why this was
  with the outlook for fuel pricing at the time the
  budget was made.

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Transportation Task Force

• Questions continued
• Oil and Grease went up 23 or 81,000 dollars.
  Again, why the increase when fuel was not
  increased?
• Tires and Tubes went up 29. Again same thing.
  What is the thought process here?
• Capitalized Furniture went up 226. What is OCPS
  Transportation planning to buy here?
• Non Capitalized Furniture went up 301. Same
  question. Did OCPS Transportation refurbish all
  the offices? There is over 444,000 dollars here
  in this category and Capitalized furniture.
• Capitalized Computer Hardware went up 554 or
  152.880 dollars. What are you purchasing?
  Replacement or new system?
• Capitalized Software increased from 7360 dollars
  to 166,820 dollars. With such a large increase
  what are you planning to buy? What system are
  you buying and what is the benefit of it?
• Dues and Fees went up 40 or 109,611. Why?
• The overall budget increased 9 in
  Transportation. Decreased 4 in
  Transportation services and overall for the whole
  dept the budget increased 1 over the previous
  year. This as all departments were being asked
  to cut 7.
• Is there a review process for budgets before they
  are finalized? We need to see the supporting
  detail for passing this budget.